The paper presents the „Virtual German Charters-Network“. The project aims at creating a research environment for charters, the most prominent group of sources from the middle ages. The project has three main goals: First, the prototypical development of archival workflows, aiming at the successive digitisation of the entire German charters portfolio. Second, to develop technical instruments that can create a working environment in accordance to modern information technologies. Third, this work environment based on the platform of the Monasterium project will be tested within university research and teaching by the implementation of a range of carefully constructed pilot projects.